Monthly Archives: August 2011

While i was cracking my brains to find an apt title for this post, i too thought that the Title is a bit strange… “Should Recruiters use Twitter”. Well some might say that its like saying “Should Recruiters use LinkedIn“…… Hmmmmm… Well i beg to differ as its not the same as using LinkedIn.

The reason why i thought to pen down about this topic was, the other day there was a discussion over a cup of coffee with some of my friends (Recruiters) about hiring and trying to find out ways to attract more talent (resumes). And the question was raised, Do you guys use Twitter? Well, for some it was not a surprising question to answer, and for some it was… hmmmm Well you can guess the answer 😉 The immediate reply was, do we get resumes on Twitter…. I know i know, Its a strange reply.. RIGHT? (Strange because, its a typical habit of recruiters to ask this, because day in and day out they have to get into sites and dig in resumes) so now it might not seem a strange reply.

Well the Discussion started with “Do you guys use Twitter” period.. nothing else…. But this question took a whole new dimension. It got directly linked to getting resumes. The point that i am trying to make is, not necessary you will get resumes (As quick as possible) and not necessary you have to use it to get resumes only. You as a recruiter can use it to do the following things: (There is a whole lot to do on Twitter than to just look for resumes – This note is only for Recruiters) 😉

– Ask questions related to any technology, hiring process, new methods of hiring / you can also answers questions based on your experience.

– Dont just keep on posting jobs on Twitter, keep it going but at times its just too much.

These are just few of the things that you can do on Twitter (as a recruiter). I know some of you might not like to use your personal account for recruitment purpose. Its your choice. Also not necessary you have to post jobs on Twitter all the time. The guru mantra is “Just be Yourself” Oh ya, i almost forgot about one more important point, Some recruiters might not like to use Twitter at all, that’s totally fine. But just one food for thought “Some years back we used to hire via publishing paper ads, then came portals, then social networking sites like LinkedIn and more sites to follow”

The choice is yours, to move on or to stick on to the traditional methods. Warning : I am not saying that you have to be on Twitter and look for resumes, all i am saying is that you can be on twitter and just follow the guru’s in your recruitment industry or follow the latest tools in your industry. Do try it. And for those who are already using it, looking forward to follow you guys and learn from you all.

You might be asking this question and would be eager to know if this is actually possible. Well, Facebook is normally used for connecting with friends and you would not want to mix it with Professionals. I too agree with you, but there is one Application on Facebook, that will allow you to do both, without your personal information going out.

What is that Application called……!!! Hang on Hang on, i am coming to that part as well. It’s called “BranchOut”. Yes BranchOut is the largest professional networking service on Facebook. You can browse over 3 million job Listings and over 20 million inside connections. The best part about this app is than you can view your connections (Professional) and can also view your friend’s connections as well. This means that you can view their employment history, and also all those connections with that company name.

Following are some of the features that have been adopted from LinkedIn:

– Career Network Stats (It will show your 1st Degree, 2nd Degree connections and also the companies that you are connected to, via your connections)For example, I have just 78 Friends on BranchOut, but have 32,341 2nd Degree Connections and connected to 19,658 Companies” WOW… Amazing stuff … Right!!!

– Endorse Your Friends (you can receive and request endorsements from the connections)

– You can Post jobs (Free Free Free)

– You can get Professional Network Updates (What your friends and colleagues are doing on BranchOut)

And now the most amazing part of BranchOut (My Favourite), there is a section where in you can enter a company’s name and search all the connections associated with that companies.

For example, i searched IBM and i got 8223 results. Cool rite…. and the most important aspect of this search is that you can connect with all these connections.

Don’t worry; you will not connect them as a friend, but as a professional connection, as you will get to see their Professional Profile. You can also search for resumes which are not in your connections, and then can add them based on the skills you are looking for.

For example, as you can see, i have typed IBM AND SAP in the search section (people) and the search results shows that there are 37 people with those skills, and guess what, they are not even connected to me.

So what are you waiting for, go on spread your networking branches on BranchOut and connect with professionals. BranchOut helps you to Build a powerful network of professional connections. All you need to do is search for a company and you’ll see all of your friends and friends-of-friends who work there. This will help you to find people working in different companies, and also you can view their professional profile. Also you can view Job Listing, based on the search engine provided by BranchOut. So have you BranchedOut yet !!!

Looking forward to know about your views and comments on the same. Also if you have any interesting way in which you managed to use BranchOut for connecting with Professionals out there.